Maybe the Answer is Consignment

This is not the consignment store I was in, just a handy visual

A friend texted me the other day to ask if I wanted to go thrift store shopping with her.  As much as I love a bargain, I really, really hate thrift store shopping.  I envy The Frugal Girl, when she shows off the great deals she found at the thrift store, but for me, it just has never worked.

1. I hate shopping.  Mostly I hate the work of shopping: the deciding the hemming and hawing.  I often get a bit knee-jerk in a crowded store and just want to get out so I don't think through my purchases like I should.
2. I often feel weird leaving a store without buying something.  This is something I'm working on and getting over, but when I start getting the shopping headache, I think If I just grab this, I can go.
3. Less than perfect.  Notice how the second in my series on mending hasn't happened yet?  Yeah, I've been planning to write it for about a week now, that's how much I dread mending.  Likewise, when I find something at a thrift store that needs a minor bit of work, I often don't actually ever wear it because I don't get around to fixing it.
4. Paranoia.  I have this fear that I will buy back things I donated to the thrift store because I will convince myself that it's a slightly better version of what I gave away.  I mean, it's logical, right?  I donated stuff I liked, so naturally my eye will be drawn back to the familiar...

But I decided to go with my friend to keep her company, and quickly found out that she was even more interested in going to consignment stores than she was thrift stores.  Again, because of my shopping malaise, I've barely been to any consignment stores even though I have very well-dressed friends who swear by them. I have been a fool--it was lovely!  I got two really cute dresses and a belt, and my friend got three dresses for about $45.  Three dresses for $45!  That's just a ridiculously good deal, and we didn't have to go rooting through piles and piles of stuff to find the gems, everything looked like a real store!

One of my purchases may need a new zipper, but it is one-of-a-kind cute and I'm itching to wear it, so hopefully that will motivate me.  Triumph!